I’m hoping Jeremy Corbyn has the good sense to let this one keep sneaking into questions during PMQ’s for the rest of the time Cameron is in office, e.g. “we have to cut down on government pork….” “The government has made a pig’s ear of the economy….” “….and the chancellor is now relying on China to save our bacon…” “what does the PM plan to do about the police….”

Of course, jokes aside there is a more serious story here. These posh clubs for spoilt rich kids (the Bullingdon of Oxford, the Skull and Bones of Yale, etc.) serve two purposes. Keeping them away from the riff raff, but serve as an initiation into the Good olde boys network. Given that they now have the dirt on one another, this means that they can pressure one another to act in their favour – which creates a massive conflict of interest as it essentially means that the PM, Chancellor and many other Tories (such as a possible future PM Boris Johnson) are all at risk of being blackmailed into doing things not in the interest of the country.

The other night on Question time the Tory MP Elizabeth Truss (of expenses scandal fame) was rattling off all the Daily Mail-esque myths about labour under Corbyn. E.g. that labour plans to abolish the army, build a monument to the IRA, sell the country to China, etc. Indeed I thought I might put in a coupon on my blog for Tories to cut out and forward on to their favourite right wing news paper.

+————————————————————————————————————-+

Based on something Corybn or his cabinet member _______________ (delete as needed) said / mumbled /sneezed /comments attributed to him by tabloid hack / in 19__ it is now Labour policy to (delete as necessary) kill santa claus / Nationalise all breweries / Steal all our children and make them work in the mines / Replace the Queen with John Prescott / Bring in 200 million Syrians and 1 billion Romanians / Turn Faslane into a Soviet Missile Base / or _______________________.

This will mean (delete) The end of the UK / The triumph of Beelzebub / The Dead raising from the grave / The Communists, Indians, Chinese, Romanian Gypsies, Roswell Alien, Scottish taking over / The apocalypse / The Rapture / The end of Corrie

Then again, at least the UK anthem isn’t as bad as the French one. I mean, have you ever heard the lyrics to it? Its downright nasty (blood gore, cut throats, eat frogs legs, etc.) and the French get kids to sing it! I got kids singing a song like that in English, I’d be reported to child services pretty darn quickly.

But anyway, certainly it has to be said that the chances of labour winning is reduced with Corbyn in charge. However, before the Tories get cocky or carried away, they need to consider that this raises the stakes, should they screw up in the next five years. Keep in mind that when there is a change of government 10% of the time, its because the people are convinced enough by the opposition to change horses. But the other 90% its because the party in power screwed up royal and the public voted for the other party to get these dittoheads out of office.

And of course all it takes is some scandal involving Cameron or Osborne getting up to something naughty and that could easily throw the next election. After all, if we were to make claim’s about Tory policy based on what Cameron said back in his Bullingdon days it would now be Tory policy to refer to the public as “plebs”, the abolition of all state funded education (cos the riff raff don’t need it), privatisation of the NHS, that the wealthy should have the right to park in disabled bays…..oh wait some of those are true!

Hence, rather than full steam ahead and lurch to the right, I’d argue the Tories are better aiming for a more middle ground strategy, else they will simply embolden labour and close ranks around its new leader.

The Tories will argue that the 50p tax cut will encourage growth and attract new business, why the day after the tax cut didnt GlaxoSmithKline announce a new £350 milion pound investment in the country?. This has got to be the most obvious cynical poltical ploy Ive every seen. No company makes a decision like this where that much money is at stake in less than 24 hours based on a government budget change (it would typically take many weeks of analysis by the beancounters for a company to even know whether a budget yields a net positive or not). Clearly this decision was made months ago and GSK held it back till the day after the budget and timed its announcement (regardless of what Osborne said) as a friendly thank you to the Tories for funding the boards next round of Porsches, via the 50p tax cut.

Anyway, the argument put forward by the millionaires for the tax cut seemed to be that with taxes so high they just couldnt be bothered to set up companies or try harder and would rather just sit in the corner and sulk. I describe this as the Kevin & Perrydefence taxes are too high! Its so unfair, aw I hate you! Of course isnt the principle Tory argument against the wealthy not being subject to a wealth tax (as other nations apply) that they are motivated to set up businesses and earn more? If this is not the case and they are paying hardly any tax then surely a wealth tax is thus a good idea, no?

And speaking of the unfairness of the budget, I noted that alcohol went up with talk now of a minimum price for booze. One could argue, using the same logic of the millionaires (of the 50p discriminating against them), that this alcohol duty discriminates against Irish people. Suppose Im now so under-motivated to work due to this rise that I now dont bother showing up for work Monday and just hang around and sulking? Or in the same way the rich feel justified in dodging higher taxes which they poltically disagree with, am I now justified in setting up a pot still and making Potcheen? Would those on the right agree that this is justified? I think not!

Further there is a world of a difference between a million pound home in, say, Westminster or Notting Hill (which could be just a small house or apartment) and say Glasgow or Liverpool (that would probably buy you a luxury penthouse suite!). Consequently if you are a pensioner of modest income, who bought a house in Kensington, when it cost you just 455 pounds and ten shillings, retired there on fixed income before the yuppies arrived and pushed up house prices. Now, struggling as you are to pay the council tax, thanks to Osborne you cant even sell the house due to the stamp duty. No doubt such individuals are probably reading the sides of cat food tins and wondering whether they can live off them…other than that planning to burn down their house for the insurance money!

No, the best and fairest way to tax people is based on their ability to pay, and pensioners on a fixed income, or arbitrarily taxing people on the speculated value of their property are poor ways of doing this. Taxing actual accumulated wealth, earnings or consumption (VAT or Carbon taxes) are the best approaches as this directly reflects ones ability to pay on what one pays in tax.

Again one cannot avoid the conclusion that the Tory mantra about wanting to cut the deficit is just tosh. The truth is they dont actually care about the deficit, which will be a problem for future generations of tax payers. Of whom they represent a slightly lower percentage of since Wednesday! No the Tories are merely using it as a ruse to hammer public services and flog the peasants and increase the power and control of their Bullingdon club buddies that little bit more.